1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a surgical stapling apparatus, and more particularly, relates to a surgical stapling loading unit having a firing stroke counter and a lockout which locks the loading unit upon completion of a predefined number of firing strokes.
2. Background of Related Art
Surgical staplers for stapling tissue are known in the art and are inclusive of both single use and multiple use devices. Single use devices are preloaded with one or more staples and are disposed after a single use. Multiple use devices are disposed upon exhaustion of the supply of staples or completion of the surgical procedure. If the supply of staples is exhausted prior to completion of a surgical procedure, a new surgical stapler may be required to complete the surgical procedure. The use of additional surgical staplers for a single surgical procedure can be expensive.
In order to address the high expense associated with the use of multiple surgical staplers for a single procedure, surgical staplers with replaceable staple cartridges have been developed.
Covidien, LP, has manufactured and marketed stapling systems having replaceable cartridges, such as the Multifire ENDO GIA™ 30 and Multifire ENDO GIA™ 60 systems, for a number of years. These systems include a surgical stapling handle assembly and a surgical loading unit. The loading unit may be a single use loading unit (SULU) or a multiple use loading unit (MULU). The loading unit includes a body and an end effector, and is attached to the handle assembly immediately prior to surgery. The end effector may include a cartridge which houses a plurality of staples. After use, the loading unit can be removed relative to the handle assembly and replaced with a new loading unit to perform additional stapling and/or cutting operations. A drive assembly is supported within the loading unit and is engagable with a control rod of the surgical handle assembly to control operation of the loading unit.
Although these systems have provided significant clinical benefits, improvements are still possible. For example, it would be desirable to provide an improved stapling loading unit for use in a surgical stapling system which tracts the staple firing sequence to assist the clinician in monitoring the staple supply. It also would be beneficial to provide a surgical stapling device having a lockout to prevent firing of the device after the staple supply has been depleted.